Not wanting to deny the town of some big summer dollars, Mayor Vaughn(Murray Hamilton) overall rules Police Chief Brody's (Roy Schneider) decision to close the beaches until they find the shark responsible for 2 recent mauling!!   This of course happens right at the beginning of the peak season, July 4th Celebrations, so there's plenty of people in town. 

With the thought of a killer shark on the loose, every man and his dog take to the waters to catch them a big fish.  When the supposed shark is caught and another victim is taken, big time fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) takes it upon himself to catch the shark, and ups the bounty to $10,000.  Chief Brody and Oceanographer MAtt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) set out to see on the Orca to catch the killer before another person is eaten!.

As a second feature film for director Steven Speilberg, Jaws went from a film that never nearly got made, to a film that became one of the highest grossing films of all time!! (a feat Speilberg has achieved several times over with the likes of Jurassic Park and Raiders!!!).
Coupled with one of the most memorable and frequently imitated music scores, and some truly excellent and seamless editing, Jaws is a film that has really stood the test of time,and will do so for many years to come. 

But enough of that, we all know what it's all about

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
twenty five years has past since Jaws was released and here's an Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer that looks like a film made with the last 10 years!!

While Colour Saturation is down in spots, it generally shows a great colour balance.   With so much of this film being shot on location you notice a difference in this when scenes go in doors under controlled lighting.  Still Jaws has a very natural look about it that is bound to please.  Sharpness on a whole is pretty good and shows quite a bit of detail, but is at times oversharp and results in far too much aliasing during these moments (take the beach sequence at the beginning of the film as Brody is looking for the first victim).  And with only a few nicks and scratches on the print here and there, is generally a very nice transfer.  "tis quite a gooden! 
Spread over 2 layers of an RSDL DVD, this very well placed layer change (over what is essentially a still shot of Matt Hooper) occurs a fair way into the 2 hour movie at 89:20).

AUDIO
Originally Released in mono (available in mono on this DVD in French, German, Italian and Spanish), the English Mix has been remixed and encoded with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track.   Several sound effects have been totally remastered and while they do have a slightly better dynamic range, with more control, blend in quite nicely with the 25 year old sound components!  The best part of the whole 5.1 remix is the cleaned up Music Score.  It sounds great.  The Way it should be heard!! Though there is little use of the surrounds, the front soundstage gets a nice workout and is quite wide with a good level of clarity.  With much the dialogue re-looped, there are signs of some audio sync problems, though nothing too serious for this reviewer to get worked up about!